Garment-rack.



R. KUERSTEN.

GARMBNT RACK.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 27, 1909.

Patented June 21, 1910.

HUGO R. KUERSTEN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

GARIVIENT-RACK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J une 21, 1910.

Application filed November 27, 1909. Serial No. 530,158.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HUGO R. KUERSTEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Garment-Racks, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates more particularly to garment racks of the type which is composed of a plurality of telescoping sections, rendering it adaptable to be positioned within a cabinet or other suitable inclosure, and to be drawn out therefrom for the purpose of positioning or removing articles of wearing apparel from the rack or bar which is carried by one of the telescoping sections.

The object of the present invention is to construct a rack which will have its telescoping sections mounted upon roller bearings in a manner to render their advancement and retraction easy of accomplishment; which when retracted will be locked in such position; and in which lthe telescoping sections will overlap each other when extended, thus preventing any undue sagging of the rack when the sections thereof are in such position.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of the rack with the sections in retracted position, and having one side plate of the outer section removed; Fig. 2, a cross section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a side elevation showing the sections distended and showing the wall of the outer section broken away at one end, disclosing the locking mechanism; and Fig. 4, a section on line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

rlhe rack is intended to be positioned adjacent to the roof 5 of a cabinet body 6, or other suitable mechanism, and is supported by means of bracket members 7 attached to the walls of the inclosure and to both ends of the body portion of a section S forming the outer and fixed section of the telescopic rack member. The outer section 8, as shown, is composed of companion flanged plates 9, preferably in the form of angle irons. Journaled in the side walls 10 of the flanged plate 9 are rollers 11 and 12, the latter of which lies adjacent to the outer extremity thereof. The rollers 11 and 12 are positioned within plates 13 and 14, which are of channel formation and form the intermediate telescoping section 15. The plates 13 and 14 are joined together by a plate 16 which extends along the top edges thereof and is fastened thereto; and journaled within the inner walls 17 of the channel plates 13 and 14 are rollers 18 and 19 which are positioned within channel plates 2O and 21. These plates are bolted together, forming in effect an I beam and constituting the inner telescoping section 22. Upon the outer end of the inner section is an actuating member 23 which consists of a handle 24, which carries a locking member 25, the latter being adapted to contact a fixed locking member 26 attached to the bracket member 7. Attached to the inner member are depending lugs 27 and 28, in which is mounted a bar 29 which constitutes the rack upon which the garments are suspended.

In positioning the various rollers, it is desirable that a certain amount of play be left between them and the surfaces contacting their peripheries. rl`his is because of the fact that when the sections are advanced and retracted the weight of the garment will cause a tilting in various directions of the diiferent sections, and if a tight impingement of the surface of the rollers against the surfaces of the various sections were maintained it would result in a tight binding at some period during the distension or retraction of the various sections, which would result in an undue amount o-f friction and render the rack difficult of movement.

Positioned upon the channel plates 2O and 21 are stop members 30, which act in the manner to be hereinafter described, to pull the intermediate section forward after the inner section has been pulled forward a certain distance; and located upon the intermediate section are stop members 31 which will act to stop the movement of all of the sections after they have been moved a certain distance.

The operation is as follows: `Taking the parts as shown in Fig. 1, that is, the position which they assume when the clothes are positioned within the interior of the cabinet or other suitable inclosure, the first movement is a retraction of the movable locking member 25 from engagement with the fixed locking member 26, after which an outward pull upon the handle 24 will cause the inner member of the telescoping sections to advance. After this advancement has continued for a certain distance, the stop members 30 will contact the rollers 19, which are j ournaled within the walls of the intersol mediate telescoping section. A continued forward pull upon the handle 24 will result in the intermediate section being pulled forward until the stop members 30 contact the rollers 1l which are journaled within the walls of the outer or fixed section 8; and this contacting of the stop member 30 with the roller ll will result in the stopping of any further forward movement of either the inner or intermediate telescoping sections. But the inner section will by this time have advanced to a point so that the bar 28 will be pulled out from the interior of the cabinet, thus placing the garments carried thereby in a position to be removed therefrom. As will be seen from the drawings, when the sections are distended, each one of them will overlap the other for a4 considerable dist-ance. Thus when the rack is in its distended position it will be of an extremely substantial and solid formation, so that the weight of the garments will not produce any sagging or bending of the various sections to a degree which would be harmful to the general utility of the device. It will also be seen from the description and drawings that the various rollers serve a double purpose. First they form bearings upon which the various sections ride when being extended or retracted, thus making such operations possible with the use of but little force by the operator, and they also serve to work in conjunction with the various stop members to produce means for actuating the different telescoping sections.

The device as a whole is extremely rigid and durable of construction and contains no parts which would be liable to become broken or damaged by the severe handling which a device of this character is apt to be subjected to; and the locking means provided insures against the weight of the garments extending the sections after they have been placed in retracted position. This is of special advantage because of the fact that the user of such a device is more than liable to exert a violent shove upon the rack when retracting it, and the rebound of the sections, when they reach their limit of movement, will tend to again extend the sections, more especially if the garments are suspended in a manner so that the weight is lying toward the forward end of the inner section.

As will be seen from a study of Fig. 2 of the drawings, all of the sections lie within one another, thereby occupying the least space possible in a vertical direction. This isran important feature in constructions of this nature, because of the fact that it is highly undesirable to have the garments when suspended from the rack trail upon the iioor of the cabinet or other inclosure.

With the construction shown by applicant, the rack can be positioned in a relatively shallow inclosure, and, at the same time, the rack portion will be suspended far enough above the iioor of the inclosure so that the bottom of the garments will not lie thereon.

I claim:

In a device of the class described, the combination of an outer, intermediate, and inner telescoping section each nesting within the other, the outer section composed of com panion .members of angle iron formation fixedly held within brackets, rollers jour# naled within the side walls of said members, the intermediate section being composed of companion members of channel iron formation, t-he flanged portions of which extend in opposite directions to one another, the rollers carried by the outer section lying within the channel portions of the intermediate section, and traveling upon the inner face of the upper flange when the section is tilted downward and upon the inner face of the lower flange when t-he section is tilted upward, rollers journaled within the side walls of the members forming the intermediate section, the inner section being composed of companion members of channel iron formation, the flanged portions of which extend in opposite directions from one another, the rollers carried by the intermediate section lying within the channel portions of the inner section and traveling upon the inner face of the upper flange when the section is tilted upward and upon the inner face of the lower flange when the section is tilted downward, means attached to the inner section for supporting a rack member, and stop members located on each of the movable sections to limit their outward movements, substantially as described.

HUGO R. KUERSTEN.

Vitnesses:

WVM. P. BOND, SAMUEL W. BANNING. 

